A former councilwoman from Orange admitted today that she fraudulently billed the Essex County city $250 for expenses she never incurred.

Vivian Gaunt, 71, pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct stemming from 22 fake receipts she submitted to the city between December 2001 and January 2007, Attorney General Anne Milgram said.

Her plea agreement comes two years after a fired city employee named Gaunt and four other council members in a letter to state investigators as submitting fake expense sheets to the city.

Gaunt, who served on the city council for 12 years until her term expired in June, told Superior Court Judge Michael Petrolle in Newark that she submitted false receipts and purchase orders to the city for reimbursement for meal expenses she claimed to have incurred while representing the city on trips, Milgram said. She admitted she did not have the actual receipts for the expenses and fabricated the amounts.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend Gaunt receive probation. She could have faced up to five years in prison, but for defendants like Gaunt who have no prior record, a prison term would have been unlikely for the third-degree offense. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 21.

Gaunt's attorney, Thomas Ashley, could not be reached for comment.

The investigation started with a tip from Laverne Ballard, former executive secretary to disgraced former Assemblyman and Orange Mayor Mims Hackett Jr. In it, she named former councilman Coram Rimes and former Councilwoman Tency Eason, Barbara Peters and Maria Vandermeer.

Ballard, Hackett's secretary from September 2004 to July 2006, sent a letter in March 2007 to Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow alleging Hackett and five council members submitted duplicate or fake receipts for expenses. She was fired for poor job performance four months after sending her letter. Dow referred the investigation to the Attorney General's Office.

Gaunt was the first to be charged and the attorney general's office would not say whether charges are pending against the others.

Hackett was sentenced in January to five years in state prison for billing the city for more than $5,000 in travel expenses he never incurred.